I’m not a pin-up, thankfully. I’m not suggesting I feel unconfident. I am beautiful to my husband. I am beautiful to my friends. I feel sexy and all those things with the people I love. – Olivia Colman
This may sound mad, but you sort of assume that no one’s going to watch what you do. You go on set, have a lovely time, and then you forget anyone’s going to see it. So it’s always a bit of a shock to be recognized. I get terribly embarrassed. – Olivia Colman
I feel fortunate that I’m not a beauty. I’m not a classic beauty. I feel it is harder for girls who are like that. There are fewer parts. – Olivia Colman
My daughter’s still so tiny at the moment; she’s just a sweet little meaty thing. But of course, you always think about what you want for them, don’t you, and like any parent I want my children to be happy more than anything. – Olivia Colman
I find Shakespeare terrifying. When Simon Russell Beale does a speech, I understand every word of it, but if I did the same speech, people would be going, ‘Huh? What?’ – Olivia Colman
I always assumed I would leave drama school and do ‘Lady Macbeth’ and all sorts of serious things. It just didn’t happen. – Olivia Colman
I had a lovely, feral, free childhood – out and then come back when you’re hungry or it gets too dark. I feel slightly cruel that I’m not offering my children the same. – Olivia Colman
I don’t think you can cry if the script is rubbish. I have to feel it; it’s as simple as that. It’s just like if you’re watching something moving, and you feel yourself welling up. It’s the same thing. You’re just being carried along with the story. There’s nothing magical about it. I think I’m in touch with my emotions, and I can’t help it. – Olivia Colman
I’ve always done drama, but I suppose ‘Tyrannosaur’ was a bit of a watershed moment for me. It was like when Kathy Burke did ‘Nil By Mouth’ – suddenly, people were saying, ‘Oh, she can do that, too.’ – Olivia Colman
You see thousands of films you forget the minute you come out of the cinema, don’t you? Because they don’t mean anything. It’s the tough ones like ‘Breaking the Waves’ and ‘Nil By Mouth’ that stay with you, that you never forget. I’d like to leave a few of those behind if possible. – Olivia Colman
I can see why people keep having babies. We were looking at a school for my youngest this morning, and there were all these little boys and girls. So sweet. And then the teenagers walk past, and, my God, they’re enormous, and I bet they don’t kiss their mummies. I’m just going to force my children to remain lovely. – Olivia Colman
I grew up in north Norfolk, which certainly used to have an enormous sense of community. There are more and more second homes there now, so I’m not sure how that has damaged it. But where I live in South London, there is a beautiful community; it’s the friendliest place I have ever lived, which comes as a surprise to non-Londoners. – Olivia Colman
Everything with me is pretty close to the surface, but having kids has completely ruined my emotional equilibrium. – Olivia Colman
I want to be helpful to the charities I support. I think you can dilute it, the more you do. You have to be a bit strong about what you do… otherwise, you risk spreading yourself a bit thin, and you can be less useful. – Olivia Colman
I used to want to be in ‘Downton’ because I had never been in a period drama, but then I did ‘The Suspicions of Mr Whicher’ and had to wear one of those frocks and… I didn’t feel very comfortable. – Olivia Colman
I love my job and I know I am very lucky but still, if you audition and you don’t get it, it still affects you. – Olivia Colman
The first time I did a school play was the first time I felt I was good at anything at all. I just loved it. – Olivia Colman
If the script’s good, everything you need is in there. I just try and feel it, and do it honestly. I also don’t learn things for auditions, because I feel like it’s just a test of memorizing rather than being real. Maybe every other actor would think that was terrible, I don’t know. But it seems to have worked for me, so far. – Olivia Colman
When you’ve got children, it’s easy to do that thing of keeping a tally of who woke up earliest and whose turn it is to put them to bed. But I think the important thing is to appreciate and love each other and to show that appreciation. – Olivia Colman